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"Pep, do you think we're boring?" Tony asked one night.
They were already in bed at 9 PM, the lights turned off.
Pepper was almost lost in sleep when Tony had spoken. She could only bother with a hum.
"Honey," Tony tried again.
Pepper grunted.
"Friday, lamp."
The lamp on his bedside table lit up and Pepper immediately grumbled her annoyance. She turned her back on him and the lights, and pulled the blanket over her face.
Tony sat up and stared at the blanketed form of his wife.
"This is serious!" He scooted closer and rested his chin on her side. "Are we boring people?"
Pepper sighed and pulled the blanket down to her chin, looking at her husband. "What?"
"Are we boring?"
"Are you kidding me? I have to be up early tomorrow!"
"Oh, my God, we are boring," Tony rose to a sitting position and leaned against the headboard, head thrown back. Since when did they sleep at 9 in the evening?
Pepper knew she wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon and decided to humor her husband, "What's the matter?"
"Somebody on the street said I was boring."
"Since when do you care about what people on the street say?"
"Since I couldn't remember the last time I did something fun. Pep, we used to have a lot of fun, the two of us."
Still lying down, Pep raised a brow at him. "I vaguely remember a time when you were the one having fun while I cleaned up after you."
"Case in point, we used to have a lot of fun sex."
"Are you saying the sex we have now is bad?"
"Making love to you is always amazing. But my point is we used to do it a lot."
"We had sex last night!"
"Once."
"Tony, we are way too tired to be doing it more than once."
"Exactly my point! We get tired easily. We're getting old. Boring. We should go out, have fun. Go skinny dipping out in the lake."
"It's December."
"And then cuddle naked by the fireplace."
"What would Morgan say if she saw us naked by the fire?"
"Say we're a nudist family?"
Pepper dismissed him with a laugh. "You need to get some sleep. Less caffeine and more sleep. And stop listening to people on the street." She pulled the blanket over her face and turned to her side once more.
Tony placed a hand on her arm and hovered his ear over hers. "Come on, I'm serious! I don't want to be the guy who got boring after he retired. We have to spice things up!"
Pepper pulled the blanket down and craned her neck to look at him. "You and Morgan just did shadow art on the driveway. Now it looks like a Pollock Painting. Was that boring?"
"Of course not! It was great! My shadow looked nothing like me! But don't you just miss all those times we used to get drunk—"
"That was all you."
"—and get arrested."
"You again."
"You remember those times?"
Pepper simply smiled. "Well, those times certainly were... colorful in comparison."
"See?"
Pepper turned, lying on her back while Tony had moved down to his side, propped up by the elbow.
"But honey you can hardly run around and break the law again. We're parents! We have to set the right example for Morgan."
"Oh, I'm not talking about getting wasted painting the town. We can always have fun right here, right now." His eyes glinted and Pepper, knowing exactly what he had in mind, still asked, "What do you have in mind?"
Tony quickly rolled on top of her, his hands pressing down on the mattress on either side of his wife to support his full weight.
"She's asleep, we can get our—"
"Little Boss is approaching," came FRIDAY's timely (not really, if you asked Tony) alert.
Tony quickly rolled off Pepper and they both sat up at the same time the door to their bedroom swung open.
"Mom?" Morgan asked, walking closer and then climbing up their bed.
"Hey, little miss," Tony said, helping her up. "What are you doing up?"
The three year old settled between him and Pepper. She pressed her face to Pepper's side and said, "I'm scared."
Pepper rubbed her back, eyeing Tony as she asked, "What did you make her watch?
"Why do you always think I made her watch something?" At Pepper's raised brow, Tony admitted, "Gravity Falls."
"Tony!"
"I didn't think she'd get scared! She wasn't when we were watching! Plus, how can she be scared of that cartoon when she personally knows a green no-longer-raging monster and a blue humanoid?"
Pepper didn't respond, choosing instead to fix him with a chastising look, instead.
Tony sighed. He was gonna have to make this better. There goes his fun night with his wife.
He leaned down to Morgan, whispering in her ear, "I know just the thing to make you feel better."
She turned her head to him but was still clutching Pepper's side. "A story?" she asked, voice small.
"Better. Airplane!"
Morgan slowly nodded, a smile growing bigger and bigger on her face.
Pepper watched as Morgan slowly detached herself from her and gave herself over to her dad.
Airplane was an old favorite. Tony would lift Morgan up in the air, her stomach balanced on the soles of his feet while he held her hands spread eagle to mimic the form of an aircraft and also to make sure she didn't fall and hit her head.
They had stopped doing Airplane when she got a little bigger and heavier but sometimes, on nights that warranted breaking the rules, Tony gladly did it for his little girl.
The sounds of Morgan's infectious laughter filled the room and later when she was knocked out between him and Pepper, Tony whispered, "Who said you couldn't have fun in bed?"
Pepper snorted a laugh. "A different kind of bedroom fun...but, yes, it's still fun."
"Good night, Mommy."
"Good night, Daddy."
...
"I'm admitting it. You were right. This was a fun date night," said Pepper, as she and Tony skated another round on the frozen lake.
"I have my moments," Tony said smugly, squeezing her gloved hand.
"I still can't feel my face, though."
Tony smirked. "I can take care of that for you."
Pepper smiled against his mouth, reveling at how romantic this date turned out to be.
She had initially refused him when he pitched the idea of ice skating on the lake.
"You love Serendipity," argued Tony, referencing the romantic comedy starring Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack.
"Doesn't mean I'm gonna go out there with just one glove."
"Honey, come on. I put Morgan to bed before her bedtime! I even had Dum-E go out and measure ice integrity."
"How did that turn out?"
"He got a little bit distracted sliding across the ice but he's fine. U's got him defrosting." Tony took her hands in his and said, "It'll be fun and we're fun, right?"
That was that and now they were currently walking back up to the house, giggling like teenagers, desperate to get back in the house where they could warm themselves up thoroughly.
They pulled off their skates and hurried inside.
The door shut loudly behind them and Pepper hissed at Tony to be quiet lest they wake their daughter.
"She's a heavy sleeper," Tony reminded her, laughing. "Nothing can wake that girl except—"
There was a series of hurried footsteps padding down the stairs and the couple froze.
Morgan appeared at the bottom of the step, eyes alight. Her smile vanished when she saw her parents. Almost as if she was disappointed to see them and not someone else.
"What you doing?" she asked in a suspicious tone.
Tony and Pepper immediately took one step away from each other.
"I could ask you the same thing, little miss. You should be asleep."
Morgan shook her head and ran to the window, looking out.
"Did you see him?" she asked her parents, eyes glued to the sky.
"See who?"
"Santa! I hear him! The door sounded bang and someone was laughing."
Pepper and Tony exchanged looks.
Pepper crossed over to her daughter and said, "Oh, honey. Have you been staying up every night, waiting for Santa?"
Morgan nodded.
"Baby, Santa doesn't come until Christmas Eve," Tony told her.
"But he has to get my letter!" Morgan insisted looking at the letter that was on the coffee table.
"Right," Tony said, he completely forget about that. "Tell you what, maybe Santa would come if we left him a little snack?"
"Like milk and cookies?"
"Yeah! He has a sweet tooth, you know. Can't say no to milk and cookies. He's probably diabetic at this point."
Pepper rolled her eyes and asked her daughter, "We'll leave some milk and cookies for him tomorrow, okay?"
"Now! We make now and wait for Santa to come back!"
Pepper turned to Tony who shrugged and said, "Well, it's only 9."
They ended up making cookies for Santa; Morgan licked the spoon while Tony ate more than what he had a hand in making.
It was midnight when Morgan was finally asleep, passed out in the living room couch because she insisted on staying there to keep the watch.
The fire was crackling in the fireplace and Tony and Pepper were exchanging yawns, seated on the floor.
"Who wrote this for her?" Pepper asked, showing Tony Morgan's opened letter to Santa.
"Happy probably." Tony skimmed the list, "She wants a Baby Alive? That doll is creepy. I am not risking an Annabelle movie happening in my house."
Pepper sipped her wine. "She also asked for a car."
"I can make that happen."
"In rainbow colors."
"Totally doable."
Pepper yawned and Tony nudged her to go to bed.
"I'm sorry this day didn't end the way you wanted it to," she said to him.
"Are you kidding me?" Tony asked, "Cookies and wine with my two favorite girls? Funnest ever."
"That's not a word."
"She's not listening."
...
Tony opened the car door before Pepper had the chance to unbuckle her seat belt and then he was pulling her out the car. He took her work bag from her and hurried her inside the house, grinning from ear to ear.
"Come on! Come on!" he said, dumping her bags on the table by the foyer.
"Someone's excited," Pepper noted, taking her time in removing her winter coat.
Tony motioned at her to make it quick. "Last I checked Morgan was still down on her afternoon nap so you and I have roughly two hours for some fun sexy activity."
Pepper looked at him. "You made me come home early for this?"
Tony sighed, took her coat, and hung it on the coat rack for her. He took her hand and pulled her to the garage. "It'll be fun! I put out the inflatable pool and filled it with warm, warm chocolate and marshmallows and we can lick it off—"
"Is it dark chocolate? 'Cause milk chocolate just—"
"70% dark."
"With almonds?"
"The almonds are for you, the marshmallows are for me."
Pepper kissed him square on the mouth. "I love you."
They finally reached the garage and the inflatable pool was there, filled with watery, warm dark chocolate and floating marshmallows just like Tony described... Except... Morgan was in it too.
Pepper faced Tony, hands immediately folding over her chest, a disbelieving grin on her face. "Sleeping, huh?"
"I swear to Friday, she was asleep!" Tony headed to his daughter and crouched beside the pool.
"Look, daddy! A chocolate swimming pool!"
"Yeah, I know. Daddy made it. For mommy," he added, glancing back at Pepper who was chuckling. He turned to Morgan again. "How did you—what are you—aren't you supposed to be napping?"
"Yep!" was all Morgan said before plucking a floating marshmallow and popping it in her mouth. "Hmm yummy!"
"You're having fun, huh?" He rose and turned to Pepper. "Raincheck?"
Pepper shrugged before unbuttoning her blouse.
Tony frowned at her. "What are you doing?"
Dropping her blouse to the ground, Pepper said, "Our daughter is having the time of her life in a chocolate swimming pool. I'm gonna join her." She unzipped her pencil skirt, removed her heels, and then stepped in the pool.
"Daddy?" asked Morgan, chocolate dripping from her chin.
What the hell, Tony thought, and removed his own shirt.
"Yay!" Pepper cried.
When Tony was down to his boxers, he cautioned the girls, "Make way because I'm gonna run for it!"
He ran. Morgan squealed. He jumped over the three-feet pool and landed badly on his knees, chocolate sloshing out of the pool and all over the garage floor.
Morgan jumped in Tony's arms before he had a chance to try out in pain.
"Daddy, save me! There's a Mommy Shark!"
"What? Oh no! A chocolate-eating Mommy Shark! Stay back, Shark!" Pepper came closer, baring her teeth. Morgan squealed again and erupted in giggles when Pepper started tickling her.
"Stop, stop!"
"What's the magic word?"
"Please!"
"Okay."
Pepper released her and Morgan immediately moved away from her parents and started gathering marshmallows.
Pepper wrapped her arms around Tony's waist and kissed him. She appreciated all the effort it took to pull this off and wanted to let him know despite the certain turn of events.
Tony pressed another kiss to her cheek and then to her forehead.
A giggle reminded the couple of their daughter who was just nearby.
Tony hummed contentedly at the sight. "Sex is fun and all, but do you know what's better?"
Pepper turned her head to him. "This?"
"This."